British ex-Foreign Minister Johnson attacks government on taxes

We look like a seven-stone weakling being comically bent out of shape by a 500lb gorilla."In the most contentious passage, Johnson castigated the so-called backstop plan to ensure no hard Irish border, which would see Northern Ireland effectively remain part of the single market if no other workable solution is found.Johnson wrote: "We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail".

Mr Johnson, a strong supporter of Brexit, quit Ms May's government in July after rejecting her proposal for close economic ties with the bloc after the United Kingdom leaves next year.

But when pressed by Nick, Mr Gauke refused to say whether he would support Boris as Prime Minister.

Sammy Wilson said the former foreign secretary's assessment of the Brexit plan "communicated beautifully the dilemma the government has placed the country in". "Comparing the PM to that isn't amusing", he said.

Earlier, he was criticised for accusing May of wrapping "a suicide vest around" Britain and handing the detonator to the European Union with her plans for Brexit - the biggest shift in British foreign and trade policy for nearly half a century.

Alistair Burt MP added: 'There is no justification for such an outrageous, inappropriate and hurtful analogy'.

"It means we are a vassal state", he said in the column.

The latest remarks appeared in an article penned by Johnson The Mail on Sunday, in which he described the latest Brexit strategy by the government "a humiliation".

The i carries a similar story - saying a "Stop Boris backlash" has begun. Again, I say, enough'.

Many of Johnson's supporters hope his increasingly vocal criticism of May signals that he will launch a leadership bid while other Conservatives suggest his Mail article was exclusively to distract attention away from his marital difficulties.

The announcement followed newspaper allegations the former London mayor had been having an extra-marital affair.

In a sign of the war within the party, The Sunday Times reported that Mrs May's aides had drawn up a dossier on Mr Johnson during an aborted run for the leadership in 2016. "Personally I hope that won't happen".